As the vision of a decentralized, open, shared, equality-oriented and consensus-based network in the future, Web3 is one of the popular areas of blockchain. As DID, zero-knowledge proof and other new technologies extend to the application layer, as well as the cross-chain, protocol, smart contract becoming more mature, Web3 has more and more become the new paradigm of Internet, and has produced the decentralized economic model and ecosystem surrounding user identity, value and rights. With the development of Web3 market, the problems of shortcomings in user experience and market recognition of startups such as DeFi, GameFi, NFT projects are emerging, making an obstacle to the sustainable growth of the field. In the future, issues of how to leverage user needs and pain points to achieve user synergy and user-friendly in the application layer is an indispensable part for Web3 mass adoption.
On May 16, Blocklike held a panel roundtable themed “Web3: Built on user experience” to focus on the major user needs, the long-term elements of usability, the scenario and function construction and the ecological scalability to support user growth in Web3. Leaders of five Web3-oriented projects Flow, Kava, MultiverseDAO, FootEarn and MetaFinance were invited to join in the live broadcast. The panel was on both Binance Live and Mars Finance Live and has attracted viewers as many as 36,000. Here are some excerpts from the discussion.
Youtube: https://youtu.be/EbnTgsEGVq4
- User experience: Basis for Web3 mass adoption
Compared with Web2, the platform monopoly in data ownership, Web3 is more user-oriented and empowers the right of self-decision and self-profiting. Currently, the technology base and infrastructure of Web3 are continuously being upgraded and improved, making more possibilities for the all-around and multi-level outbreak of ecosystem. Nonetheless, the blockchain industry is faced with imminent problems in that users’ terminal experience and feedback are not good enough for the project to break through market circle, way affecting the progress of Web3 popularization and even the process of going mainstream.
User experience plays an equally important role in the development of Web3 as Web2. It is one of the decisive factors to achieve user retention, as well as a long-term beneficial measure to user engagement and traffic conversion into the purchase. Whether it is dApp, DAO community or infrastructure services, a good user experience brings positive feedback and enables the project’s product planning to be implemented smoothly. For the ordinary people who first come to the Web3 world, interface experience and simple operation process are key to their decision on whether to have a further try.
As Severus, Partnership Lead of Flow China, put it, In the movement from Web2 to Web3, user experience plays a vital role to provide a seamless experience during user onboarding and offer simple and convenient operations for users to engage. User experience has to be one of the primary factors to consider when building a consumer-scale public blockchain, as well as the traditional brands that are embracing the decentralized world.
Bill Dingwall, Lead UX Designer of Kava, believes that there is an obvious gap between Web2 and Web3, for example, the whole industry has created lots of concepts for new enterers to learn or to understand, especially those in DeFi area. It is better to abstract a way to lower the understanding thread of users, eg. combine it with the background than to simply highlight the value of staking protocols or various cross-chain functions. There are still more methods that we can leverage to bridge some of those gaps.
- Innovation at the bottom layer, prosperity of the application layer
Although Web3 technology is in its early stage of development, its applications are increasingly being adopted in various areas of blockchain decentralization. Same as the operation mode and interface of Web3 application may look like with that of Web2, the bottom layer have essential differences — a much more sophisticated technology stack for transaction, privacy protection and data storage to achieve functions such as protocol, Oracle machine, public chain and sidechain. There are also techniques like DID (Decentralized Identifier) and zero-knowledge proof that are not yet put into large-scale application.
These different infrastructures have the decentralization in common, which can reflect the specific nature and structure in the blockchain and have a certain influence on the future ecological development space of the project of application layer, in terms of TPS, operating speed, transaction fees and costs. On the basis of decentralized consensus, developers can make use of the interoperability and scalability of the public chain to build a more secure, universal and efficient network and finally create a thriving ecosystem.
As Rodrigo said, who is the Marketing Leader of MetaFinance, based on P2P and other diverse technology, Web3 is a radical improvement compared with Web2, and we no longer need to expect one application or one platform to get access to ownership all the time. For example, it allows us to be able to exchange information without the permission of the third party, or enter the value network without entering URL — under the structure of the domain system. With the innovation of cross-chain and layer2 or Layer3 like Ethereum or BSC, we can make the interoperability among all chains and users don’t need to bother anymore to choose exactly the chain they make transactions on.
Severus notes that starting with bottom layer construction, it takes a lot to build the powerful on-chain ecosystem, which includes blockchain building, dApp development, etc. In the midst of it, CPU design, the performance of information processing and cost of transaction fees are some of the important judgment criteria. Efforts from development pipelines can dramatically scoop up productivity, no matter in the aspect of responding speed of verification node or scalability. The enhancement in all parts will exert a positive difference to users in terms of safety, efficiency and transaction cost when using their accounts.
- Build user synergy and functional scenarios in Web3
For the past few years, under the background of Web3, the demand for GameFi, SocialFi, NFT, DeFi and other fields has been soaring. Today, the on-chain applications are no longer limited to use cases like infrastructure and tools, but also include many business segments that ordinary users can participate in, such as financial transactions and service, communication, gaming, content production and entertainment consumption, etc. With the development of blockchain, the integrated and expanded version of these business segments has formed into a complete and recyclable economic model, further promoting the flow of value on-chain and the increase of user rights and interests.
When building Web3 products, we should not only realize the essential advantage of decentralization but also take the user synergy into consideration. In the long run, the Web2 platform model will coexist with the distributed mode of Web3 dApp, making overlaps in user identity, value system and operating mechanism. On the other hand, dApp as the main representation of product covers most of the scenes and functions of the whole product business, which is worth constant perfection in aspects such as interface operation, image quality, running speed, and continuously explore this topic in the early stage of Web3 application.
Sarah, CMO of MultiverseDAO, notes that the ideal circumstances for new users diving into Web3 is that, they don’t need to realize they are doing so, because the Web3 ecosystem including entry point has been similar to that of the traditional Internet. In another word, the UI simplicity enables users to access the decentralized application and onboard the whole Web3 world. The reality is, the large learning curve for on-chain projects’ users is making the need for a mobile platform and other multiple end devices imminent, and that’s what most projects are working for.
Emma Pham, CMO of FootEarn, talks about the growth methodology that, Web3 was born with large amounts of utilities, especially the self-control of digital assets and financial freedom. But for most people who do not use blockchain, it’s difficult to do even the easiest stuff in the Web3 world, like creating a wallet account. For the projects that apply DAO standards and decentralized systems, Web2 users can easily switch to Web3 in the practical use.
In addition, educating users, interacting and learning with them by providing experience on how to make the operation of dApps in real-life scenarios can also help decrease their difficulty in understandingWeb3, so as to gain the trust of new users.
- User trust built on the secure Web3 experience
Nowadays, the wide application of cross-chain, smart contract and the popularity of dApps or Web3 platforms have made on-chain security breach incidents increasingly common, deepening the mistrust of the public and investors in the industry. The project should take community and digital assets safety, both on and off the chain, as the primary focus in the midst of designing user experience, and at the same time strategically use multiple means to improve user trust with the efficient and high-quality operation.
Emma Pham thinks that the blockchain market emphasizes personalization to achieve security on-chain, specifically with 12 characters for each user’s wallet address. However, the principle of “easy to use, easy to join, and easy to pay” must also apply to the security system of Web3 application, meaning we need more time to make it more suitable for most users. In this period, there are optional choices for projects, one of them is improving the security of API channels that link with Apple and Google to synchronize user information.
In Sarah’s opinion, it’s hard to balance security and decentralization and it depends on the development stage of project. For example, in the initial stage of a DAO development, security is on everyone’s mind, but it turns out to be impossible to be fully decentralized, for the reason that they need the community to be organized to get things past, so as to accomplish the purpose faster and push forward the project in accordance with trajectory. And I believe once the community is well established as a successful project, members will make the transition to fully decentralization for the best interests of the community and ultimately ensure everybody’s security in Web3.
Host:
Arthur, Investment Manager of Candaq
Speakers:
Severus, Partnership Lead of Flow China
Bill Dingwall, Lead UX Designer, Kava
Sarah, CMO, MultiverseDAO
Emma Pham, CMO, FootEarn
Rodrigo, Marketing Leader, MetaFinance
